


That Which Was Broken

by HumanCustomsStillEludeMe



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Cassandra Cain is Batgirl, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Gen, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Other, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, Tim Drake is Robin, be forewarned that bruce is a bit of an ass, cursing, jason needs to chill, more cursing, some violence but not too much, under the red hood YJ version
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-23 06:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13184046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HumanCustomsStillEludeMe/pseuds/HumanCustomsStillEludeMe
Summary: Jason Todd is dead. That much, at least, Nightwing is sure of. But after a fight with the Joker, and a fall out with Batman, he's not sure of anything anymore.





	1. The Man Who Laughs

In all honesty, Nightwing should've been more afraid than he was.

What with the explosions, the Joker gas, and the ringing laughter, he shouldn't be this okay with it. Or used to it. All in all, this was probably very unhealthy. Mostly for the baddies, having the busted noses and all, but pretty unpleasant for the good guys too.

"Nightwing! You there?"

Panting, the young vigilante dodged a thrown chair and hit a button on his comm. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Good. I found Joker."

Cursing under his breath, Nightwing turned a corner, and leapt into an air duct at a speed the Flash would envy. "Whatever you do, do not engage." After a somewhat disgruntled sound, Robin replied, "I could just knock him out from a distance."

"No."

"But-"

"I saw Harley Quinn right after we got here, along with about forty-five goons. We've probably run into twenty. No way in hell he's unguarded. Stay put until I get there," Nightwing said as he crawled deeper into the maze of ducts, silently praying that they wouldn't collapse under his weight. He hadn't had time to check, but this was a pretty old building, maybe renovated in the- No. Stay focused, Grayson.

After three minutes of hissed profanity, cursing incorrect sources, and checking building schematics, Nightwing carefully slipped out a smoking hole in the wall from where someone else had fought. The moment his feet touched the floor, his hand flew to his comm. "Tigress. Where are you?"

"First floor. Did something happen?"

"Robin found Joker. Eighth floor. We need all the backup we can get." He inwardly flinched when she spat out a choice four letter word, followed by an audible thwack. "Got it. The stairs blew up, but I can get there from the fire escape. East side."

"Roger. Nightwing out."

The second he switched his comm off, Nightwing heard the laughter. He flinched, breath hitching as he moved to the exterior wall, forcing back the wave of panic that came from hearing that God-awful sound.

Regardless, Nightwing pulled his escrima sticks from his back once more, lowering into a fighting stance.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a moment. As he was focusing on the laughter, Harley Quinn charged from one of the empty rooms, inexplicably wearing roller skates. "Hiya, birdboy!" She yelled, swinging her oversized mallet at Nightwing, clipping his shoulder as he leapt out of the way. With a hiss of pain, he side-kicked her in the torso, and she skidded a few feet with a shriek before crashing to the ground.

However, he didn't have the time to savor his victory. Rolling out of the way of a strike from the side, he got a good look at his new opponent before he had to move again.

Same green hair, same yellowish-brown eyes, that damn Cheshire grin, and that damn crowbar already raised to strike him.

"Well, well, well, what's the birdie doing so far from the nest?" Joker cackled. He took a step forward, and Nightwing instinctively tensed. "Does Batsy know you're way out here in Metropolis? Ooh, the boy in blue's not gonna be happy about this, no..." He descended into manic giggles and lunged. Hissing a curse, Nightwing grabbed Joker by the back of the collar and slammed him to the ground. The clown twisted around, somehow landing a hit on the side of Nightwing's face.

"Mm, that had to hurt," he said, as Nightwing reeled for a split second before returning the blow three times over. But Joker just wouldn't stop laughing. The shrieks of mirth echoed off the walls. Out of the corner of his eyes, Nightwing caught a glimpse of a limp form slumped against the wall.

Robin.

Swearing under his breath, Nightwing tensed to strike. Artemis had better get there soon.

"Oh, come now, you're not focusing at all!" The maniac kept grinning despite the hail of blows from the twin escrima sticks, very few of which were deflected by the crowbar. "You know, the other one was really much more fun, oh yes..."

Nightwing froze, eyes almost comically wide. No. No way he was going there.

A shrieked cackle and a heavy blow to the ribs sent Nightwing to the floor with a loud snap.

"Y'know, there are just so many of you that I get a little mixed up. Robin this, Batgirl that, it just gets so confusing! Oh, but it must've been the second one, who was he again?" He took a second to land another blow on Nightwing's side. There went another rib.

"Wasn't his name...Jason?"

Nightwing's vision went red. Roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Punch to the stomach. Kick to the groin. The clown never stopped laughing.

"You son of a bitch!"

Honestly, Nightwing wasn't sure when the maniac hit the floor. He wasn't even fully conscious of what he was doing until he felt someone's hands on his arm. "Nightwing. Nightwing! Stop! He's down!"

Breathing heavily, Nightwing struggled to regain his composure as the blind rage ebbed away, his vision clearing as he focused instead on the shaking voice besides him. Robin?

At some point, Robin must have gotten up. He let his brother pull him off the clown as Artemis came through a broken window.

"I got held up. What'd I-Oh. Oh."

His vision came back into focus, and Nightwing internally winced at the bloody, laughing mess before him.

"...Nightwing?"

He glanced down at Robin for a moment when the younger's grip tightened. Biting back a curse, Nightwing instead said softly, "I'll call the police. Get to the Zeta." He gently pulled his arm from Robin's grip, and activated his wrist computer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his two teammates hesitate at the window.

"Go."

The second the trio stepped out of the Zeta, Batman could tell something was wrong.

At first glance, it was immediately obvious something was off. Artemis was watching Nightwing out of the corner of her eye, tense and wary, clearly on edge. Robin had a hand on the back of his head, a slight grimace twisting his features. He, too, was obviously very aware of his older brother's every move.

Then there was Nightwing. He had a hand on his side. From how gingerly he was moving, it looked like he had at least one broken rib. A large bruise was already forming on his right cheek, and the side of his mouth was bloody, from what Batman hoped was only a knocked out tooth.

After a moment of deafening silence, Aqualad, who had returned from a separate mission, spoke up.

"What happened?"

Nightwing attempted to respond, but winced instead and looked to Tigress.

"The sources were wrong. It wasn't an arms deal, it..it was Joker. Harley Quinn, too, and God knows how many thugs.."

Batman's eyes flicked to his grimacing sons for a moment before he responded. "Nightwing and Robin are injured. Explain." Tigress hesitated, biting her lip. After taking a moment to formulate her response, she replied, "I...got to the fight with Joker late, I don't..."

Robin spoke up as soon as he realized that he was the only one capable of giving all of the information necessary. "I got to Joker first. Quinn knocked me out, so I didn't see what happened to Nightwing. But, I did see him...uh...beat the crap out of Joker."

With difficulty, Nightwing spoke up, his voice quiet and hoarse. "Crowbar. Broken rib, maybe two. Some bruises, lost a tooth. That's it."

Batman took a few steps towards his eldest and lowered his voice to barely more than a whisper. "You were clearly off guard to have sustained that many injuries in such a short amount of time. What the hell happened?"

The younger vigilante drew in a deep, painful breath and met his mentor's eyes. "H-He started talking about Ro-about Jason. I...I froze up. And when I hit him, I didn't stop hitting him until he went down, and...after."

Batman stilled for a split second before responding. "Nightwing, you cannot get that close to crossing the line, do you understand? No matter what he says, you will not do that again. Ever."

The younger paused for a split second, before staring back defiantly as his gaze hardened. "Like you wouldn't have done the same," he shot back harshly. Before Batman could interrupt, he continued. "If you're done, I'm going to go see Doctor Leslie. Broken ribs, remember?"

As he left, Nightwing turned and said something to Aqualad with a smile that seemed just a bit off, before stepping into the Zeta beam and disappearing into the yellow light.

Far below the Watchtower, a young man sat in a decrepit apartment in Gotham City, watching a screen displaying the hacked watchtower feed. He watched as the Dark Knight stared mutely after his angered son as Nightwing asked Aqualad for two weeks off, and left the orbiting fortress. Robin grimaced and glanced at Batman, who turned and immediately started getting details out of Tigress.

With a smile that didn't reach his eyes, Jason Todd lifted a red helmet from the table before him. He kept his eyes on Batman as he stood.

"I always love watching you work."


	2. Red Hood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason Todd is dead. That much, at least, Nightwing is sure of. But after a fight with the Joker, and a fall out with Batman, he's not sure of anything anymore.

"He only THINKS he's right, Babs."

"I know, I know. We've been over this a few times, Dick."

The young man sighed and flopped down onto his couch, painstakingly maneuvering around his injured ribs.

"Still, though. He's treating me like a child," he said, the hand not occupied by holding his phone gingerly prodding at his bruised shoulder.

"Just let him come around. He's bound to talk to you sometime."

Dick snorted. "Right. Bruce 'Allergic to Affection' Wayne, talking through his feelings. That's gonna happen."

As he spoke, something at the window caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye it looked like a red blur, but when Dick turned to look, it was gone. He stood, moving over to the window to check.

"...Dick? Dick, are you with me?"

Still on edge, he faked a relaxed tone and responded, "Sorry, zoned out for a second there. What were you saying?"

Three weeks after his conversation with Barbara, Nightwing was crouched on the edge of a building, waiting for something to happen. As it always happens on quiet nights, a scream disturbed the still night air.

Springing into action, he ran towards the source of the noise, pausing for a split second at the edge of the building to assess the situation. A woman in her mid forties stood with her back to the wall, and a 6'3 brick wall of a man loomed over her, her floral print purse in his hands. As Nightwing landed in the alley, the man turned to face him and-

BANG!

Instinctively jumping to the side at the gunshot, Nightwing whipped his head around to the source of the noise, catching a glimpse of a tall man in a leather jacket and a red helmet before he disappeared out of the alley.

Nightwing glanced at the mugger, who was crying out obscenities, clutching his bleeding leg. After checking him over as quickly as he could, Nightwing shoved some gauze at the mugger, instructing him to hold it on the injury. Glancing over his shoulder as he gave chase to the mysterious figure, he instructed the woman to call nine-one-one.

Nightwing hated leaving the two of them alone so quickly, but the mugger wasn't going to bleed out anytime soon, and the man in the red helmet took priority, just like all excessively -excessively being the key word here- violent vigilantes.

Besides, he had seen a handgun in that woman's purse. She'd be fine.

Pausing for a second at the entrance to the alley, Nightwing scanned the area for a glimpse of red, until he caught a flash of scarlet on the roof across from him. He fired his grappling hook, and took to the rooftops in pursuit.

However, when he reached the roof, it was devoid of any living thing- much less a six foot tall man in a red motorcycle helmet.

After a moment of confusion, there was a heavy arm around Nightwing's neck, and he sprung into action, flipping his attacker over his shoulder and slamming him to the ground.

Red helmet and leather jacket? Check and check.

The man -he had to have a name, this was just too vague- twisted around to strike Nightwing in the chest with the heel of his hand, causing the blue-clad vigilante to stumble backwards to the edge of the building.

The red-helmet-guy was back up in a flash, pulling a gun from the holster on his thigh. Before he could shoot, Nightwing lunged in, elbow striking the guy in the solar plexus. His pause as he gasped for breath thankfully gave Nightwing the time to pull out an escrima stick and pin Red Guy to the ground.

"Who are you?" Nightwing demanded, pressing the end of his stick to Red Guy's neck.

"Been thinkin-thinking about the name Red Hood," the man choked out, reaching up to grab Nightwing's arm. "How 'bout you?"

Hood twisted Nightwing's arm, wrenching the smaller man off of him with brute force. He hit the ground with a painful thud, gasping in pain as his barely healed ribs hit the concrete rooftop.

Thankfully, though, a decade's worth of training kicked in, and Nightwing was on his feet in an instant, blocking another punch from Red Hood, who- was barely out of breath. Damn.

But, of course, before Nightwing could assess the situation, Red Hood pulled a gun on him. However, something felt completely off as he dove away from the bullets- he was out of breath, his ribs were immensely painful, and he had just seen Red Hood shoot a man in the leg from fifteen feet away without hitting anything fatal.

Nightwing was at near point-blank range, and was moving at about two thirds his normal speed. Hood was missing on purpose. Nightwing didn't know what this meant, but there was no way in hell it was good.

"So!" Red hood shouted. "You're Nightwing, right! Scourge of the underworld? Batman-lite?"

Nightwing gritted his teeth and launched a batarang at Hood's face. It embedded itself in the helmet, sticking out like some absurd nose before he yanked it out to reveal a clean hole, sparking with the ends of wires. Taking advantage of the situation, Nightwing struck Hood in the chest with his elbow, before side-kicking him in the stomach, forcing him to double over and drop his gun.

"So-" Nightwing landed an elbow strike on the back of Hood's shoulder. "I take it you're the newest vigilante in town?" He rammed his knee into Red Hood's ribs. "I'm not judging, I just have things handled. Besides-" He sent Hood sprawling with a well-aimed kick. "You're just a bit violent for my tastes. Bludhaven really needs someone just a tad bit...calmer."

Hood staggered to his feet. "Yeah, well..." Turning to face Nightwing, Red Hood tensed. "Screw you too, Dickhead."

Nightwing paused for a split second, trying to tell if that was a coincidence or not. Unfortunately, a split second was more than enough time for Hood to lunge forward and land a kick on Nightwing's side, causing the pain in his already hurting ribs to multiply tenfold.

Hood disappeared over the edge of the roof as Nightwing tried his damndest not to fall off the building.

"Hey, Babs. Sorry to bother you, but could you call back as soon as you can? I need some information on a new vigilante in Bludhaven. Thanks."

Dick sighed as he set down his phone, opening his computer instead. If Babs was busy, then he would try to figure this out himself. He'd done it before, obviously, but he had the nagging feeling this time would be a hell of a lot more difficult.

Checking the local news probably wouldn't give him much information, but he combed through the poorly planned website anyway, until he found an article on Red Hood.

"Bludhaven's newest vigilante?

"At 11:00 PM Wednesday night, elementary school teacher Amanda Byers was attacked by former police officer Michael Russel, who..."

Blah blah blah. Dick scanned the article for any mention of the vigilante. It went on about the ex-cop for a bit before they finally mentioned Red Hood.

"After Russel was shot by the unknown vigilante, well-known Gotham hero Nightwing went in pursuit after giving first aid to Russel. Mrs. Byers reports that the two fought on the nearby rooftop of Hogan's Bar, before Nightwing sustained an injury, allowed the vigilante to escape unhindered."

After finishing the article, Dick continued scouring the news site for any mention of the vigilante. Nothing for the first two weeks he went back, one dead end where a man in a red motorcycle helmet shot a woman...and her girlfriend shot the attacker in the head.

Finally, after what felt like hours, he found a small mention in a piece about how Nightwing was completely ineffective and should be shot.

"When the aforementioned 'hero' failed to stop my wife's attempted murder, a young man in a red motorcycle helmet was forced to give aid..."

Bingo. After an hours' worth of digging for more sightings, he found a common location- an abandoned candy store, on the waterfront, of all places.

As kept digging for more information -just in case- his communicator buzzed.

"Nightwing here."

"It's Barbara. Sorry I took so long to get back to you, the team had a mission. What was it you needed help with?"

Dick, immensely relieved he wouldn't be going into this alone, responded, "This guy in a red helmet -calls himself Red Hood-,"

"Wait, like Joker's old alias?"

"Yeah. I don't think he's part of it. Anyway, he shot a mugger, shot at me, missed on purpose, and I'm pretty sure he fractured one of my ribs."

"Fun," Barbara said wryly.

Dick snorted. "Yeah. I traced back all of the sightings of him, and I'm pretty sure his HQ is this abandoned candy store on the waterfront. Sherman's Delights, or something equally cliche."

"What'd he look like?"

Dick paused for a second. "Well, he was wearing a red helmet. The eye slots looked like the ones on our masks. Uh...brown leather jacket. Gray turtleneck, looked armored. Somewhere in between what Bruce has and what I have. God only knows how many guns."

"Besides what he was wearing, Dick."

"...Oh. Um, he was white, taller than me by a few inches, I'd say he's around six feet. Around my age. Late teens, early twenties."

"Everyone your age is taller than you. I'll try and find him."

Raising an eyebrow, he continued. "Rude. Also, I think I tracked down his location. I just need you to verify it for me."

Barbara paused. "Alright. Send me what you know, and I'll run it from here."

"Thanks. My ribs are killing me, so I'm going to find him tomorrow night," Dick said in response.

"Sure. Just let me know when you go out."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye."

Switching off his comm, Dick glanced at the clock. Naturally, he only had an hour and a half to send Babs the information and get some sleep before he had to go to work. What a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two! Again, a lot of credit goes to my amazing Beta reader OctaviaWithStarsForEyes on ff.net. Thanks for reading, and to everyone who commented/gave kudos on the first chapter! Chapter three should be up soonish. Probably.


	3. Surveilance

When Nightwing went to face Red Hood, he really didn't expect his hideout to be neon pink.   
  
It's just not something you'd anticipate, y'know? The only thing that remotely hinted at criminal activity was the boarded up windows and the two or three bullet holes on the door.   
  
_ "Try not to get in a fight, Dick." _   
  
He smiled slightly. "Might as well stop breathing. With my luck, he'll ambush me. "   
  
Oracle sighed heavily. _ "Just plant the spyware and get out," _ she said flatly. " Will do," Nightwing replied, pulling up his holo-screen. Hacking into the security cameras took longer than he expected - this guy was good. He recorded ten seconds of nigh identical footage on each of the exterior cameras, before checking the interior ones.   
  
They showed metal sheets on the inside of the windows and old shelves shoved to the side, now covered in weapons - guns, swords, and the like, with an area cleared out in the middle occupied by a battered training dummy and a small clump of weights.   
  
Across the large-ish main room was an office chair in front of a cluttered metal desk. On the wall above and around it, hung computer monitors. The staticky feed from the cameras wasn't quite good enough to make out what was displayed on the screens.   
  
In a separate room off to the side, the footage was even worse. It showed a small, extremely full bookshelf, a cot piled with blankets and an old dresser. There were clearly a couple other rooms, but there weren't any cameras in any of them.   
  
No sign of the vigilante anywhere.   
  
After recording all he had observed, he cut the feed and sent it to Oracle.   
  
_ "He sure likes his weapons," _ she said wrly after a moment. Nightwing smirked. "No kidding. Betcha money he has more in those closets. "   
  
_ "You're on, boy wonder." _   
  
Stifling a laugh, he hauled himself onto the roof, hacking and disabling the alarms on the air ducts, and went down into the hideout.   
  
After a minute or two of cramped, upside down crawling, he carefully lifted off a grate, slid out, and landed gracefully on the floor before silently replaced the grate as it had been. Crossing the room as quickly as he could, pulled a flash drive out of his belt, and looked up at the computer monitors on the wall.   
  
"Shit."   
  
One was four views across the Watchtower. Nightwing recognized the angle immediately - he had been the one to put them in place. Another monitor showed the private rooms of the Hall of Justice. He scanned the rest of them. Green Arrow's HQ, Clark's apartment, Wonder Woman's office at(art museum in Washington, DC), at least ten other members of the League's bases. If possible, his heart sank even further as his eyes reached the last one.   
  
The batcave and Wayne manor.   
  
_ "Nightwing? What happened? " _   
  
"He knows. He has eyes on everything but you-Watchtower, the Hall, most of the league. He has cameras in the cave, Babs. And the manor. This is bad," he said as he inserted the drive and downloaded the spyware has quickly as possible, before grabbing the drive and turning to leave.   
  
He was met by a foot in the face.   
  
Slamming against the chair, Nightwing reeled for a moment before regaining his balance, if not his calm. "The fu-"   
  
"Language." Another strike at his head, this time with a knife. He just barely dodged any major injury, but even so, blood began to drip down his face.   
  
A tense moment later, Nightwing pulled out his escrima sticks and lunged in one fluid motion, striking Red Hood in the side and leg. The taller man stumbled with a curse, giving Nightwing just enough time to sweep him to the ground.   
  
Hood twisted the moment he hit the floor, rolling out of the way and punching Nightwing. "Damn, you're pissed! Might wanna considering calming down a bit, Dickie. "   
  
Nightwing's eyes narrowed as he turned and hit Hood in the side of the head with his escrima stick damn near as hard as he could. The helmet cracked, and Hood hit the ground with a dull thud.   
  
He staggered to his feet, only to be immediately confronted with a batarang to the neck.   
  
"Dont. Move. "Nightwing hissed, anger and something else - fear? - evident in every inch of his body.   
  
Red Hood grinned beneath his helm. "The Golden Boy's stooping to this? I can see why Batman's pissed at you-. "   
  
He was cut off by a kick to the stomach. Hard enough to break the shelf he crashed into on the way down. How the hell did Nightwing hit so damn hard?   
  
The second Red Hood slumped onto his back, groaning in pain, Nightwing's foot was on his throat.   
  
"Who the hell are you?" He said, voice lowered in a grim impersonation of Batman's. The man beneath him choked on an insult before saying with what felt like a caricature of levity, "Red - Red Hood. And you're a - a - dumbass. "   
  
Nightwing pressed slightly harder. "One more time. Who are you? "   
  
  
He almost imperceptibly shook his head, his helmet cracking even further as Nightwing pressed hard enough to nearly suuffocate him. "I'm not going to ask you again. (i)Who. Are. You? "   
  
With shaking hands, Red Hood reached up and pressed the release button on his helmet. With great difficulty, he pulled it off.   
  
After a pause, Nightwing froze as recognition hit.   
  
It couldn't be him. It couldn't. There was no way in hell. But still...   
  
Green eyes instead of blue, slightly longer hair with a white streak in front. Older. A scar on the side of his face. Almost a foot taller but put aside those differences, and he looked almost exactly the same.   
  
"Jason?" Nightwing breathed, his eyes widening as he let up on the pressure without even thinking.   
  
The now unmasked Red Hood grabbed Nightwing by the ankle, slamming him to the ground in his shock, running from his reeling opponent, who, after a second to not quite process, but at least get past the initial shock, leapt to his feet and gave chase.   
  
By the time he was out of the building, Jason was gone.

* * *

  
  
Nightwing stood on the roof of one of an office building, watching Robin and Batgirl spar on a quick break from an easy patrol night. Robin was good, but Batgirl still amazed him every time he saw her in action. He could read people just well enough to recognize that she was seeing every miniscule movement.   
  
Soft, near inaudible footsteps behind him. Bruce.   
  
"Haven't seen you in Gotham lately."   
  
Nightwing turned to face him. "I've been busy," he said flatly.   
  
"The league's trying to find the vigilante you alerted us to," Batman said. "Good work."   
  
Nightwing didn't replay for a moment, instead watching Robin and Batgirl spar. Batgirl won. Robin improved slightly. They waved awkwardly and dove off the roof together to continue their patrol.   
  
"Actually... I need to talk to you about that. "Batman grunted, and Nightwing took it as a cue to keep going." He's... I mean... um. I don't know how to - say this, but uh" he paused, frantically searching for words.   
  
"He's Jason."   
  
"What."   
  
Flat and threatening. Barely even a question. Nightwing turned to face his former mentor. "I... convinced him to take his mask off. He... "He stopped for a moment, feeling helplessly out of his depth.   
  
"Jason's alive."   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! The next chapter should be up eventually, my drafts file disappeared into the void while I was organizing my files and I'm worried I deleted it. Also, massive thanks to everyone who commented! And left kudos! And...actually read all of it.  
> No beta reading, we die like mne.


	4. Here With Me

 

Batman stared back at Dick coldly. "What. Are you talking about."

Dick gestured hopelessly. "We were fighting, and he took off his helmet...I saw him Batm-"  
"Not enough."

He sighed heavily. "Look, I...I got some of his blood on my gloves. I ran every test I could think of on it, and it's a match. Check with Oracle, she has all the info."

They stared silently at each other for a moment before Bruce walked past Nightwing and grappled off the rooftop. After a moment, his voice crackled through the comm.

_"Everyone back to the cave, now. This is an order. Shortest route, no detours. I expect everyone back in thirty minutes. Over."_

Nightwing steadied his breath and leaped off the roof to follow Batman.

"Yo! What's going on?"

Spoiler was keeping pace with him, just behind and to the right.

"I'll explain later."

"Why not now?"

"Secret ID things, Spoiler," he said as kindly as he could muster. She had only just found out their identities a month previously, and he wasn't sure if Batman would appreciate him filling her in on the way back.

The bike ride to the cave was torture. Both Tim and Steph were pestering him with questions through the comm the entire way, and by the time he pulled in, he was just about ready to fake his death and move to Switzerland.

(Not that he would do that, but God, sixteen-year-olds are annoying.)

"Okay, we're in the cave, can you tell us?" Tim said, standing next to him as soon as his helmet was off.

"Look, I'll tell you if Bruce doesn't, okay?"

Steph groaned and made a beeline to the fridge, Tim and Cass following soon after. Cass gave Dick an awkward side hug and a shy smile. She waited for him to awkwardly smile back before she left to steal leftovers from Tim.

Despite his immense fondness towards his dorky siblings, Dick still felt the immense dread that cloaked the room. Bruce stormed by moments later, radiating cold from every inch of his being.

"I found him," he grunted as he brushed by Dick.

The batmobile screeched out of the cave, and the dread only deepened.

Dick turned to face the others and took a deep breath.

"Jason Todd is alive."

Prisoners yelling and sirens blaring blurred into one grim cacophony, bathed in the eerie red light of the intruder alarms. Unconscious guards lay slumped on the ground in the path of destruction in the wake of Red Hood.

Joker burst out laughing as an explosion tore through the layers of steel doors.

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

Another explosion tore the bars to shreds, and Joker leaped to his feet, practically prancing towards the gaping hole.

"Yo."

He stopped short as a man stepped through the smoke.

"Red Hood, I presume! Delightful to meet you! Now, I'll be on my way-"

One step forward, and he was met by a pipe to the solar plexus.

"Remember me, bitch?"

Joker choked, doubled over on the floor.

"N-no, I'm afraid I don't. Maybe ditch the helmet and we'll see?"

Jason snarled in rage, striking the clown across the head. He slumped to the ground, motionless, and Jason procured a set of handcuffs.

"Oh, you will, Clown."

Batman's heart sank when he found the place.

It was an old warehouse. Half the ceiling was gone, letting in hazy beams of light from the searchlights scanning the skies over downtown. Rainwater dripped from the hole as rats skittered around in the broken machinery and rotted wood that littered the floor.

"Red Hood. I know you're here."

Something moved in the shadows.

"Show yourself."

"Nice to see you again."

Jason's voice dripped with ice as he stepped into the dim light. His helmet discarded, he wore a red domino mask, eyes hidden. When Bruce took a step forward, Jason drew a pistol from beneath his jacket. "Not a step, Bruce."

"Jason. Don't do this."

He gritted his teeth. "Yeah. Like I'm listening to you."

"Jason, please." Nightwing dropped from the ceiling, landing silently on the ruined floor. "Just listen."

"No! WHY should I listen when you left me for dead? When you left me with _him_?"

" _Please_  listen! Jason, I-"

"No." He kicked aside a pile of debris to reveal a limp form.

"Oh, God..." Nightwing breathed. Green hair soaked with blood and brine shifted to the side, revealing the scarred, smiling face of the Joker.

"I died. Sure. It happens! Just look at Wally!"

Nightwing flinched.

"But why, on Gods green earth, is this piece of shit still alive?"

"We don't kill," Batman growled. "You know that."

Jason's hand started shaking. "If it had been you..." He faltered. "If it had been you, this bastard would be dead."

Bruce's eyes narrowed behind the mask. Nightwing grimaced. "Jason,  _please_ , just listen-"

"No!" Jason's voice cracked. "No, you listen! You didn't even realize I was alive!" He lifted his gun level to Batman's face and kicked aside a rotted beam. Strapped to a cinder block was a ticking bomb.

"Get out."

"Jason," Nightwing said imploringly. He shook his head and took a step forward. "Don't do this."

"Get out!" He fired, the bullet grazing Nightwing's shoulder. He cried out and stumbled, clutching the bleeding wound.

"Just get out," Jason said bitterly. "Leave me behind,  _just like_  always."

"Come on," Batman growled, grabbed the back of Nightwing's collar, and dragged him towards the exit.

"Bruce, Jason is still-"

"He won't come." Batman's voice was hushed, higher than he had ever heard come from the mask. "He won't come," he repeated, mouth twisted into a grim line.

Nightwing was still dragging his feet when the ticking stopped. Batman shouted something incomprehensible and dragged Nightwing under him as fire swept around them, the massive boom leaving him with his ears ringing, burning debris crashing down around them.

He choked on a cry as his right ankle exploded in pain, something hot embedded just above the bone.

" _Bru_ ce," he choked, "My ankle-"

The taller man pulled him to his feet, shaking off debris. The old warehouse was beyond ruined, what was left of the ceiling had caved in, completely obscuring any trace of Jason or the Joker.

Bruce painstakingly set Nightwing down away from the wreckage, smoothing his hair back away from his face. "Hold on."

He turned and ran back to the burning ruins, despite the way he limped and how his right arm hung limply at his side.

Nightwing fell onto his back, darkness consuming his vision.

* * *

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I have no excuse for how long this took. Let me know if it's as unsatisfying as I feel like it is.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this! I have it posted on ff.net under the same title, same username, and similar summary if you want to read it there.  
> Credit for beta reading goes to OctaviaWithStarsForEyes on Fanfiction.


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